Month: March 2009

I'm entirely familiar with this roundabout – the Phormiums that were there before were completely inappropriate (and remember – I've been in the trade for 20 years) and, frankly, looked awful. The new planting is much better.

Not sure that it is right to highlight Maastricht in this article. Although it is in the valley of the Maas, it is in a similar position to a town ike Lewes in England – the surrounding land is really quite high (the area is often referred to as the Dutch Alps). The real trouble is for Westland, Zuid Holland, Noord Holland and the polders around the IJsselmeer and Markermeer.

Interested article. It's also true to say that regional papers (and some nationals – the Indy, for example) now have much smaller journalistic staff numbers than they had twenty years ago. Technology makes up for some of that, but ultimately, the decline in the quality of content must be a result of that reduction of headcount.

I’ve just converted a printer that was (dodgily, due, I suspect, to a faulty wireless card) connected to my WLAN to being a LAN printer by using a wireless bridge (no, really). It’s been a success, and I’m no wondering if I could perhaps use a switch and connect a few other peripherals into the LAN via the same bridge.

One of the peripherals I’m keen to connect is an external HDD that I use to backup my laptop. Theoretically, my laptop gets backed-up every Thursday at 6pm. But that assumes that it is at my desk and connected to the HDD by USB cable. I’d like it to backup, no matter where on the WLAN it is (conservatory, living room, office, wherever). The HDD does not have an ethernet socket. So, is there a device that I can plug the HDD into that will act as an external ethernet card for it, so that I can then link that external ethernet card into the LAN? Or should I just buy a new HDD with an ethernet card built in?

The largest and most spectacular castle in the Netherlands. But, closed for most of this year for restoration. AND you can only go round as part of a guided tour. AND the only have one English language tour per week. AND under fives are not permitted to take the tour. Rubbish. But we'd still like to look inside.